In perhaps the first ever instance, the Bengaluru police have booked a case of ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’ against the officials and contractors allegedly involved in the death of three manual scavengers in the city on March 7, reports Times of India.

Section 304 of the IPC which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, is a non-bailable offence and the punishment can go up to 10 years in prison.

DCP (east) Ajai Hilori told ToI, "The decision to employ section 304 for the first time in such a case and not 304-A was a conscious one," explaining that the conviction rate in the past has been extremely low in such cases, and that is the reason why a tougher approach has been taken this time.

However, no arrests have been made.

"The contractor sent a low-level employee to surrender. We sent him back. He did not take the decision. We want to arrest those who took the decision to employ the workers,” Hilori added.

The state has seen the deaths of 60 manual scavengers in nine years, but not a single person has been punished, ToI notes.

On March 7, three men, Yerraiah (35), Anjaneya Reddy (34) and Dhavathi Naidu (40), all working for Ramkay enterprises - a contractor employed by BWSSB -  reached an open manhole in CV Raman Nagar after midnight. One of the men went into the manhole in the wee hours of the morning, around 12.30am, without any protective gear.

When the first man did not come out of the hole, another man entered.

Soon, the two men could not breathe as the deadly fumes engulfed them. Hearing their screams for help, their driver, Dhavathi Naidu (40), also entered the manhole.

Naidu was not able to rescue his colleagues, and all three of them died.

Their bodies were retrieved a few hours later.